Oakland Mayor Jean Quan plans to deliver an upbeat State of the City address on Wednesday evening in which she's expected to tout a bevy of accomplishments.

Quan will probably say that the city gained 5,000 jobs over the past year, that unemployment has declined 4 percent, that Oakland's housing market is booming and that the city's restaurant and art scene draws national attention.

Amidst those points, Quan is also expected to address the city's most vexing problem: crime.

A $660 advertorial funded by the city and to be published Wednesday in the Oakland Tribune, which mentions the jobs, housing market and restaurant scene, may provide a preview of what Quan will say. But it also highlights problems with her style, according to Bruce Nye, chairman of Make Oakland Better Now, a good government group.

"The No. 1 and 2 things that need the leadership of Oakland are public safety and solving the city's fiscal problems," Nye said. "This (advertorial) is not the document of someone who has that kind of laser focus."

City cheerleader

Nye said that while it's Quan's job to be a cheerleader for her city, her strategy of highlighting many positives ends up distracting residents from the city's main problems. Not all issues are equal, he said.

Since taking office in January 2011, Quan has been buffeted by problems.

Her widely respected police chief, Anthony Batts, resigned after complaining about City Hall meddling. A crime plan for the most violent neighborhoods, her "100-block plan," was later found to be based on a flawed statistical premise. The Police Department is under increasing federal oversight even as its force has dwindled from 837 officers to 613 in just five years.

And at the center of all those issues is a straightforward problem: crime has increased in each of her two years as mayor.

"Somehow we've got to increase the number of police officers," Reid said.

For that, everyone agrees, the city will have to address continuing weakness with its finances, though Quan says the city is in its best financial shape in a decade.

A five-year budget forecast presented to the City Council's Finance Committee on Tuesday suggests increasing the force to more than 800 officers over that span. But it does not say how those positions will be funded.

Help from county

That kind of vagueness is central to why many residents, including voters and elected officials, say they're wary of raising taxes or redirecting funds to help pay for more officers.

Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley said the county may be willing to fund a police academy, pay for sheriff's deputies to patrol Oakland and even take on some crime lab responsibilities.

"In exchange for any help, we need to make sure the funds are being spent appropriately," Miley said.

Miley said he would require Oakland to pay for an 800-officer police force within three years.

Councilwoman Libby Schaaf said Quan's budgets are a vast improvement over those of her predecessor.